9 out of 10 exclusives are pure crap, although I'll admit to liking some of them: Holo Yoda, Holo Emperor, and the others that are more than just misbegotten repaints at 2 or more times the normal market price.

Make no mistake, I'm not against exclusives in principle (even repaints if they're good and are reasonably priced), as long as they are:a) Reasonably widely available, not super-limitedb) Reasonably pricedc) Not just rehash with some moronic paintjobd) "Collector-oriented" scalper bait like the Lava Vader.

Add me to the list of "sick up and fed" as well. The way it's looking, the second half of 2005 is more exclusive than open retail!

As far as open retail items go from the beginning of August, we're getting:

-ROTS basic figures 57-68 (all repaints)-Clone and Sith Evolutions sets-500th Darth Vader-Three Battle Packs (12 out of 15 are rehashed)-Wave Three of ROTS Unleashed (Shocktrooper, Chewie, Stormie Han; and that's if they ever show up at retail)

Everything else, be it figure, vehicle, beast, multipack, or collectible is an exclusive to one retailer or another. In the days of rising gas prices and waning transient interest in the SW franchise, giving multiple stores multiple exclusives (some of which aren't even accessible in some areas at all) and pretty much giving the bread and butter action figure line short-shift is pissing off a lot of people, and not just the people on this board.

I'm not about to defend Hasbro or any of the retailers that want exclusive merchandise. But just remember one thing:

No one is forcing you to buy it. Any of it. Just say no. Maybe if enough people pass up on these exclusive crap things, they will stop doing it. But everybody goes into the forums and bitches and complains and yells at Hasbro for being dicks and ******** for reusing molds and charging collectors and fans an arm and a leg for something they already have just now it's got a different color paint, or this person didn't appear in the film in that pose, or that costume, or that hair color...

Kinda hard to have a complete set without buying it though - they're exploiting the fact that some people try to collect them all - and what it's doing, is making me make my collection incomplete in order to not waste money on crap.

Which is a conflict for me - as it stands, my policy is to no longer buy this crap.